– The Rangers were defeated by the Florida Panthers, 2-1, tonight at BankAtlantic Center.

– New York is now 10-5-3 (23 pts) on the season, including a 5-4-2 record on the road.

– The loss was only the Blueshirts’ third in their last eight meetings with the Panthers (5-3-0 over the span).

– The Rangers were credited with a season-high, 50 hits, and now rank second in the NHL with 300 hits on the road.

Player Notes:

– Henrik Lundqvist made 36 saves to capture second star honors, and is now 7-4-3 overall with a 4-3-2 mark on the road. It was the eighth time Lundqvist has stopped 30 or more shots in a game this season, having posted a 4-3-1 record with a 2.22 goals against average, .937 save percentage and one shutout in those contests.

– Derek Stepan notched the Rangers’ lone goal at 4:18 of the second period and was credited with three hits in 16:52 of ice time. He has recorded 10 points (four goals, six assists) and a plus-seven rating in the last 10 contests.

– Marian Gaborik tallied the primary assist on Stepan’s goal, and registered three shots on goal in 19:27 of ice time. He has registered 12 points (five goals, seven assists) in the last 11 games.

– Ryan McDonagh also recorded an assist on Stepan’s goal, and was credited with three hits in 22:39 of ice time. McDonagh also posted a plus-one rating in the contest, and has now posted a plus-nine rating in the last seven games.

– Brandon Dubinsky led all skaters and tied his career-high with 10 hits in 21:36 of ice time. He now leads the team with 50 hits on the season.

– Dan Girardi was credited with five hits and led the team with 27:11 of ice time. He leads the NHL in average ice time (27:46) and ranks third on the team in hits (46).

– Ryan Callahan tied for the game-high with five shots on goal, tied his season-high with six hits and logged 22:10 of ice time. He ranks second on the team in shots (65) and hits (49).

– Brad Richards led the Rangers with seven faceoff wins in nine attempts (78%), and led all team forwards with 22:46 of ice time. He leads the team in faceoff winning percentage (54.1%) and ranks first among team forwards and fourth overall in average ice time (21:19).

– Michael Sauer and Brian Boyle were each credited with four hits in the contest. Sauer’s four hits marked a season-high.

Well its seems to be After reading all the comments above that i was Lucky missing the Game:)
I am sure they will respond with a better Performance on friday in D.C.
Anyway i wish everybody happy thanksgiving and a Lot of good tasting turkeys !

In all seriousness, I can’t believe I paid good money to watch these clowns play tonight.

Observations from close up viewing:
– Our players seem to be going through the motions
– Panthers players looked hungrier from the start
– Most Panthers players are useless too, but they’re faster than our heroes … and at least the Panthers have a first line with chemistry
– Richards is either lost or has teammates that can’t keep up with his line of thinking
– Dubinsky may as well have been cooking hot dogs on Venus
– Stralman is a disaster … and what the hell is he doing manning the PP for 1:30
– Boyle is totally a plumber … a slow one at that … and one who seems to have forgotten all his tools this year
– Callahan looks like he’s pressing
– Lundy was on par, to say the least
– I agree with others that we continue to play with a bunch of third-line, little-talent garbage … let’s package a couple for some top-end talent

Ps. I can’t stand the amateur-hour gimmickry at the arena. It was like I was in a circus and not a hockey game …

Grab a a football shield pad, stand in the crease and have Brian Boyle practice (back hand) driving through the spot he needs to get to.
He is not timid he’s just cutting too out early on the power part and thinking hands.

The more games this team plays, the more Rennyized they are beginning to look.

Where is Roszival when you need him?…at least he kept looking around for Jagr ;long after he’d hooked up in Europe.
It;s difficult to believe that there is not a leak in the coaching
ba ba somewhere.

This game was blacked out here in FL, and I had to listen to the two Cats meow guys describe in verbal wonder at the Rangers not taking a shot on goal for the first half of the game. ( I guess they thought it part of some in depth strategy by Torts to lull them into a false sense of security. Sort of a “what will they come up with when they’re least expected of it attitude”? And they were in total awe of Lundqvist.